Write a note on tribal identity today
Answers
TRIBAL IDENTITY: TRADITION AND CHANGE
There are major changes happening within the tribal societies today which have --~ .
rendered untenable the arbitrarily juxtaposing of the tribal society as the remnant of
the archaic and primitive historical past and the modern society with all the scientific
and technology driven cultures as two opposite ends of a continuum. Beginning with
the colonial rule, which brought western edu.cation, Christianity and the anendant
modern world view, many ofthe tribal communities in the north east India in general
and the Tangkhul in particular have witnessed unprecedented pace of change. In the
post-colonial independent India the pace of change within the tribal society has been
further accelerated owing to the various policies .and programmes adopted by the
government to 'integrate' the tribe with the rest of the society, more specifically. the
'mainstream' society. Of significance in thi§_ context is the government's policy of
positive discrimination, also referred to as the affirmative actions or the reservation -·-- ~-- ·--·----~-...... -·~
poli~i,f~ the Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) in India. This policy
along with other socio-economic and cultural developmental programmes adopted by
the government towards the tribe in India has brought about rapid and far reaching
structural transformations within the tribal societies. One of the most important
impacts of these policies and programmes is the emergence and development of a new
tribal group. This new group of people is broadly referred to as the tribal middle class
basically due to their similar orientations and lifestyles with the middle class of the non-tribal socirty.